Abstract

Thomas Danzl

Graffito or sgraffito? Some technical notes on monumental decorations from the 13th to the15th century in the former archbishopric Magdeburg/Saxony-Anhalt

The former archbishopric Magdeburg, founded by Otto the Great 968, was immediately regarded as a “Third Rome”, an idea that was also emphazised by a rich art production during all the middle ages. Famous for high quality metal casting as well as for its mass production of devotional objects an early revival also of other techniques of the antiquity can be observed: e. g. wall and floor coverings in stone or terracotta incrustation techniques (opus sectile), ornamental and figurative mural paintings, polychrome sculptures in stone and stucco and last but not least precious textiles.
This contribution tries to widen the view on the early years of the appearance of sgraffito technique in monumental art of the 13th century and embed it in this material context in order to show that these different supports were treated though with very similar graphic techniques as cutting and scratching or “a niello”.
The oldest known and preserved examples are the façade decorations of the Magdeburg Cathedral cloister and of the former Cisterciensian Cloister of Celle in Aue / Saxony (mid 13th century). While the first is exposed to weathering since nearly 800 years and no trace of a colour treatment could be found, the second shows a red and ochre refining of the lines cut in the natural coloured plaster. In the humanities this ladder fact was regarded since the 19th century more an exception than the rule.
An exceptional high (though still too few to be representative) and concentrated presence of early scratched works in monumental art in Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony leads to the conclusion of a high graphic and pictorial standard. In some way this practice anticipates Vasari`s description of the sgraffito technique that would be indeed graphic and pictorial at the same time. It is also interesting to note that in mural paintings (both a fresco and a secco) of Central Germany the graphic element of a strongly incised underdrawing plays with its accentuated relief an important role in the pictorial result.
In difference to the sgraffito technique of Central Italy in the 14th and 16th century the scratched works in Central Germany are not based on a coloured (red, grey or black) first coarse and a whitish second coarse (or lime wash) but on a natural coloured plaster that only sometimes had been whitewashed before scratching and colouring.
At the beginning of the 16th century the use of this special technique first coexists and then vanishes slowly because of the Reformation and the import of the Italian sgraffito technique from Switzerland, Austria, Bohemia and Poland.

Prof. Dr. phil. Dott. Thomas Danzl is a conservator / restorer and an art historian.
After a craftmanship as decorator and gilder he attended conservation of wall paintings and architectural surfaces courses at the ICCROM in Rom and an internship at the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence. He studied art history and history in Florence and conservation and heritage studies in Udine / Italy. 1997 he got a PhD at the University of Regensburg/Germany. Between 1998 and 2006 he was the head of the conservation department of the monument care institute of Saxony-Anhalt in Germany. From 2006 until 2008 he was the head of the conservation department of the Federal monument care Institute of Austria in Vienna. 2007 he became honorary Professor at the University of Fine Arts in Dresden / Germany and 2009 ordinary Professor. He is teaching art technology, conservation and restoration of wall paintings and architectural surfaces. Since 2012 he is the dean of faculty II at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden (University of Fine Arts Dresden).
He collaborated on the conservation of the mural cycles by Domenico Ghirlandaio in Santa Maria Novella and Andrea del Sarto in Chiostro degli Scalzi in Florence and at numerous facade paintings of the 16th century in Italy and Austria. He devoted himself early on the establishment of international standards in the conservation of architectural surfaces and historical plasters, especially of the 20th century.

As part of his duties in Saxony-Anhalt, he supervised since 1998 four World Heritage sites and set standards for the conservation works of the Bauhaus buildings in Dessau.
He is internationally networking and worked as an expert in numerous advisory committees, such as i.a. about the occasion of the conservation / restoration of the Tugendhat House by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in Brno or in the project "Network White City Tel Aviv" funded by the German Federal Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety.
On behalf of the Saxon State Ministry for Science and Art, he is currently working on the establishment of a university education for conservators / restorers in Hanoi, Vietnam.
His numerous publications focus on:
- The history of conservation / restoration of wall paintings and architectural surfaces
- Methodological issues of conservation and restoration in an interdisciplinary context
- The technology of art and building technology of the 20th century
- Currently a main focus of his research and teaching is dealing with the architectural legacy of Nazism and the conservation of Public Art ("Kunst am Bau") in a divided Germany